Component carrier uplink maximum transmission power reporting scheme for carrier aggregation

ABSTRACT

Embodiments of the present disclosure describe method, apparatus, and system configurations for reporting uplink maximum transmission power for each component carrier of a carrier aggregation scheme. A method includes establishing, by a user equipment (UE), a communication link with an enhanced node B (eNB) station of an Internet Protocol (IP) based wireless communication network, and sending, by the UE to the eNB station, a message that includes information for a Power Headroom Report (PHR) and a value that indicates an uplink maximum transmission power P CMAX, c  for individual active component carriers of a carrier aggregation scheme. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims priority to U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 61/410,740, filed Nov. 5, 2010, the entire specificationof which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety for allpurposes, except for those sections, if any, that are inconsistent withthis specification.

FIELD

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field ofwireless communication systems, and more particularly, to methods,apparatus, and system configurations for reporting uplink maximumtransmission power for each component carrier of a carrier aggregationscheme.

BACKGROUND

Mobile networks that facilitate transfer of information at broadbandrates continue to be developed and deployed. Such networks may becolloquially referred to herein as broadband wireless access (BWA)networks and may include networks operating in conformance with one ormore protocols specified by the 3^(rd) Generation Partnership Project(3GPP) and its derivatives, the WiMAX Forum, or the Institute forElectrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) 802.16 standards (e.g., IEEE802.16-2005 Amendment), although the embodiments discussed herein arenot so limited. IEEE 802.16 compatible BWA networks are generallyreferred to as WiMAX networks, an acronym that stands for WorldwideInteroperability for Microwave Access, which is a certification mark forproducts that pass conformity and interoperability tests for the IEEE802.16 standards.

A variety of different device types may be used in broadband wirelesstechnologies. Such devices may include, for example, personal computers,handheld devices, and other consumer electronics such as music players,digital cameras, etc., that are configured to communicate over thewireless broadband networks.

Carrier aggregation is a feature in emerging wireless systems thatallows user equipment (UE) to concurrently utilize radio resources frommultiple carrier frequencies using component carriers. Schemes forreporting of uplink maximum power transmission for individual componentcarriers of a carrier aggregation scheme are needed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments will be readily understood by the following detaileddescription in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. To facilitatethis description, like reference numerals designate like structuralelements. Embodiments are illustrated by way of example and not by wayof limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 schematically illustrates an example broadband wireless access(BWA) network in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 2 schematically illustrates an example reporting scheme for uplinkmaximum transmission power P_(CMAX, c) in accordance with someembodiments.

FIG. 3 schematically illustrates another example reporting scheme foruplink maximum transmission power P_(CMAX, c) in accordance with someembodiments.

FIG. 4 schematically illustrates yet another example reporting schemefor uplink maximum transmission power P_(CMAX, c) in accordance withsome embodiments.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of a method for reporting uplink maximumtransmission power P_(CMAX, c) in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of another method for reporting uplink maximumtransmission power P_(CMAX, c) in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of a method for scheduling resources for uplinktransmission in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 8 schematically illustrates an example system that may be used topractice various embodiments described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide method, apparatus, andsystem configurations for reporting uplink transmission power (e.g.,maximum transmission power) for individual component carriers of acarrier aggregation scheme. In the following detailed description,reference is made to the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof,wherein like numerals designate like parts throughout, and in which isshown by way of illustration embodiments in which the subject matter ofthe present disclosure may be practiced. It is to be understood thatother embodiments may be utilized and structural or logical changes maybe made without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.Therefore, the following detailed description is not to be taken in alimiting sense, and the scope of embodiments is defined by the appendedclaims and their equivalents.

Various operations are described as multiple discrete operations inturn, in a manner that is most helpful in understanding the claimedsubject matter. However, the order of description should not beconstrued as to imply that these operations are necessarily orderdependent. In particular, these operations may not be performed in theorder of presentation. Operations described may be performed in adifferent order than the described embodiment. Various additionaloperations may be performed and/or described operations may be omittedin additional embodiments.

For the purposes of the present disclosure, the phrase “A and/or B”means (A), (B), or (A and B). For the purposes of the presentdisclosure, the phrase “A, B, and/or C” means (A), (B), (C), (A and B),(A and C), (B and C), or (A, B and C).

The description may use the phrases “in an embodiment,” or “inembodiments,” which may each refer to one or more of the same ordifferent embodiments. Furthermore, the terms “comprising,” “including,”“having,” and the like, as used with respect to embodiments of thepresent disclosure, are synonymous.

As used herein, the term “module” may refer to, be part of, or includean Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), an electroniccircuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group) and/or memory(shared, dedicated, or group) that execute one or more software orfirmware programs, a combinational logic circuit, and/or other suitablecomponents that provide the described functionality.

While example embodiments may be described herein in relation tobroadband wireless access networks in general, embodiments of thepresent disclosure are not limited thereto and can be applied to othertypes of wireless networks where similar advantages may be obtained.Such networks include, but are not limited to, wireless local areanetworks (WLANs), wireless personal area networks (WPANs) and/orwireless wide area networks (WWANs) such as cellular networks and thelike.

The following embodiments may be used in a variety of applicationsincluding transmitters and receivers of a mobile wireless radio system.Radio systems specifically included within the scope of the embodimentsinclude, but are not limited to, network interface cards (NICs), networkadaptors, base stations, access points (APs), relay nodes, enhanced nodeBs, gateways, bridges, hubs and satellite radiotelephones. Further, theradio systems within the scope of embodiments may include satellitesystems, personal communication systems (PCS), two-way radio systems,global positioning systems (GPS), two-way pagers, personal computers(PCs) and related peripherals, personal digital assistants (PDAs),personal computing accessories and all existing and future arisingsystems which may be related in nature and to which the principles ofthe embodiments could be suitably applied.

In some embodiments, a method of the present disclosure includesestablishing, by a user equipment (UE), a communication link with a basestation of an Internet Protocol (IP) based wireless communicationnetwork, and sending, by the UE to the base station, a message thatincludes information for a Power Headroom Report (PHR) and a value thatindicates an uplink maximum transmission power for individual activecomponent carriers of a carrier aggregation scheme.

In some embodiments of the method, sending the message is performedduring establishment of the communication link.

In some embodiments, the method further includes sending, by the UE tothe base station, another message that includes updated information fora Power Headroom Report (PHR) and another value that indicates anupdated uplink maximum transmission power for individual activecomponent carriers of the carrier aggregation scheme. In someembodiments, sending the another message is performed periodically orbased on occurrence of an event.

In some embodiments, the information for the PHR includes a powerheadroom value that indicates a difference between the uplink maximumtransmission power and an estimated transmission power for individualactive component carriers of the carrier aggregation scheme.

In some embodiments, the value that indicates the uplink maximumtransmission power for individual active component carriers of thecarrier aggregation scheme is a quantized nominal value that is sent bythe UE to the base station for the base station to schedule resourcesfor uplink transmission by the UE.

In some embodiments, the message is a second message that is sentsubsequent to a first message, the method further including sending, bythe UE to the base station, the first message to report a base value ofthe uplink maximum transmission power for individual active componentcarriers of a carrier aggregation scheme, wherein the first messageincludes one or more bits to indicate the base value, the base valuebeing a nominal value of the uplink maximum transmission power, andwherein the second message includes one or more bits to differentiallyindicate an updated value of the uplink maximum transmission powerrelative to the base value.

In some embodiments, sending the first message is performed duringestablishment of the communication link, wherein the first messageincludes 8 bits to indicate the base value and is sent independent ofmessages sent for the PHR, and the second message includes 4 bits todifferentially indicate the updated value relative to the base value.

In some embodiments, the method further includes, subsequent to sendingthe first message, sending, by the UE to the base station, a thirdmessage to report another base value of the uplink maximum transmissionpower for individual active component carriers of the carrieraggregation scheme, wherein the another base value is a nominal value ofthe uplink maximum transmission power, and wherein the third message issent based upon a difference between a measured uplink maximumtransmission power and the reported base value being greater than apredetermined threshold.

In some embodiments, the first message, the second message, and thethird message each include a Media Access Control (MAC) layer message.

Embodiments of the present disclosure further include an apparatushaving an antenna, a processor configured to communicate with a basestation of an Internet Protocol (IP) based wireless communicationnetwork via the antenna, and a storage medium coupled to the processor,the storage medium having instructions stored thereon, that if executedby the processor, result in establishing a communication link with thebase station, and sending a message that includes information for aPower Headroom Report (PHR) and a value that indicates an uplinktransmission power for individual active component carriers of a carrieraggregation scheme, wherein the information for the PHR includes a powerheadroom value that indicates a difference between the uplinktransmission power and an estimated transmission power for theindividual active component carriers of the carrier aggregation scheme.

In some embodiments, the apparatus is configured to send the messageduring establishment of the communication link.

In some embodiments, the apparatus of claim 12 is configured to send tothe base station another message that includes updated information for aPower Headroom Report (PHR) and another value that indicates an updateduplink transmission power for individual active component carriers ofthe carrier aggregation scheme.

In some embodiments, the apparatus is configured to send to the basestation the another message periodically or based on occurrence of anevent.

In some embodiments, the value that indicates the uplink transmissionpower for individual active component carriers of the carrieraggregation scheme is a quantized nominal value that is sent to the basestation for the base station to schedule resources for uplinktransmission by the apparatus.

In some embodiments, the message is a second message that is sentsubsequent to a first message, and the apparatus is further configuredsend to the base station the first message to report a base value of theuplink transmission power for individual active component carriers of acarrier aggregation scheme, wherein the first message includes one ormore bits to indicate the base value, the base value being a nominalvalue of the uplink transmission power, and wherein the second messageincludes one or more bits to differentially indicate an updated value ofthe uplink transmission power relative to the base value.

In some embodiments, the apparatus is further configured to send thefirst message during establishment of the communication link, whereinthe first message includes 8 bits to indicate the base value and is sentindependent of messages sent for the PHR, and the second messageincludes 4 bits to differentially indicate the updated value relative tothe base value.

In some embodiments, the apparatus is further configured to, subsequentto sending the first message, send, by the UE to the base station, athird message to report another base value of the uplink transmissionpower for individual active component carriers of the carrieraggregation scheme, wherein the another base value is a nominal value ofthe uplink transmission power, and wherein the third message is sentbased upon a difference between a measured uplink transmission power andthe reported base value being greater than a predetermined threshold.

In some embodiments, the first message, the second message, and thethird message sent by the apparatus each include a Media Access Control(MAC) layer message.

In some embodiments, the uplink transmission power is a maximumtransmission power.

Embodiments of the present disclosure include another method includingestablishing, by a base station of an Internet Protocol (IP) basedwireless communication network, a communication link with a userequipment (UE), receiving, by the base station from the UE, a messagethat includes a value that indicates an uplink maximum transmissionpower for individual active component carriers of a carrier aggregationscheme, and scheduling, by the base station, resources for uplinktransmission by the UE based on the received message.

In some embodiments, receiving the message is performed duringestablishment of the communication link.

In some embodiments, the another method further includes receiving, bythe base station from the UE, another message that includes anothervalue that indicates an updated uplink maximum transmission power forindividual active component carriers of a carrier aggregation scheme.

In some embodiments, the another message is sent by the UE to the basestation based upon a difference between the another value and the valuebeing greater than a pre-determined threshold.

In some embodiments, the message and the another message each include aMedia Access Control (MAC) layer message that is received independent ofPower Headroom Reporting (PHR) received by the base station, and thevalue and the another value each include a quantized nominal value ofthe uplink maximum transmission power.

Embodiments of the present disclosure further include a system includinga processor configured to communicate with user equipment (UE) via abase station of an Internet Protocol (IP) based wireless communicationnetwork, and a storage medium coupled to the processor, the storagemedium having instructions stored thereon, that if executed by theprocessor, result in establishing, by the base station, a communicationlink with the UE, and receiving, by the base station from the UE, amessage that includes a value that indicates an uplink transmissionpower for individual active component carriers of a carrier aggregationscheme.

In some embodiments, the system is configured to send the message duringestablishment of the communication link, and the system is furtherconfigured to schedule, by the base station, resources for uplinktransmission by the UE based on the received message.

In some embodiments, the system is further configured to receive, by thebase station from the UE, another message that includes another valuethat indicates an updated uplink transmission power for individualactive component carriers of a carrier aggregation scheme.

In some embodiments, the another message is sent by the UE to the basestation based upon a difference between the updated uplink transmissionpower of the UE and the uplink transmission power received by the basestation in the message being greater than a pre-determined threshold.

In some embodiments, the message and the another message received by thebase station each include a Media Access Control (MAC) layer messagethat is received independent of Power Headroom Reporting (PHR) receivedby the base station, the value and the another value each include aquantized nominal value of the uplink transmission power, and the uplinktransmission power is a maximum transmission power. Other embodimentsmay be described herein.

FIG. 1 schematically illustrates an example broadband wireless access(BWA) network 100 in accordance with some embodiments. The BWA network100 may be a network having one or more radio access networks (RANs) 20and a core network 25.

User Equipment (UE) 15 may access the core network 25 via a radio linkwith a base station (BS) (e.g., one of BSes 40, 42, etc.) in the RAN 20.The UE 15 may, for example, be a subscriber station that is configuredto concurrently utilize radio resources across multiple carriers such asin a carrier aggregation scheme using protocols compatible with the 3GPPstandards including, for example, Long Term Evolution (LTE) includingLTE Advanced or variants thereof. Carrier aggregation may increasechannel bandwidth by combining the capacity of several individualcarriers. The aggregated carriers can be adjacent or nonadjacent and canbe in a single band or in different bands. Each individual carrier maybe referred to as a component carrier (CC). The UE 15 may be configuredto support multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) communication withthe BSes 40, 42. For example, multiple antennas of the UE 15 may be usedto concurrently utilize radio resources of multiple respective componentcarriers (e.g., carriers of BSes 40, 42) of the BWA network 100. The UE15 may be configured to communicate using Orthogonal Frequency DivisionMultiple Access (OFDMA) (e.g., downlink) and/or Single-Carrier FrequencyDivision Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) (e.g., uplink) in some embodiments.While FIG. 1 generally depicts the UE 15 as a cellular phone, in variousembodiments the UE 15 may be a personal computer (PC), a notebook, anultra mobile PC (UMPC), a handheld mobile device, an universalintegrated circuit card (UICC), a personal digital assistant (PDA), aCustomer Premise Equipment (CPE), or other consumer electronics such asMP3 players, digital cameras, and the like.

The BSes 40, 42 may each be configured to provide radio resources acrossmultiple carriers to the UE 15. According to various embodiments, theBSes 40, 42 are enhanced Node-B (eNB) stations. The eNB stations mayinclude multiple antennas, one or more radio modules to modulate and/ordemodulate signals transmitted or received on an air interface, and oneor more digital modules to process signals transmitted and received onthe air interface.

In some embodiments, communication with the UE 15 via RAN 20 may befacilitated via one or more nodes 45. The one or more nodes 45 may actas an interface between the core network 25 and the RAN(s) 20. Accordingto various embodiments, the one or more nodes 45 may include a MobileManagement Entity (MME) that is configured to manage signaling exchanges(e.g., authentication of the UE 15) between the BSes 40, 42 and the corenetwork 25 (e.g., one or more servers 50), a Packet Data Network Gateway(PDN-GW) to provide a gateway router to the Internet 55, and/or aServing Gateway (S-GW) to manage user data tunnels between the BSes 40,42 of the RAN 20 and the PDN-GW. Other types of nodes may be used inother embodiments.

The core network 25 may include logic (e.g., a module) to provideauthentication of the UE 15 or other actions associated withestablishment of a communication link to provide a connected state ofthe UE 15 with the BWA network 100. For example, the core network 25 mayinclude one or more servers 50 that may be communicatively coupled tothe BSes 40, 42. In an embodiment, the one or more servers 50 include aHome Subscriber Server (HSS), which may be used to manage userparameters such as a user's International Mobile Subscriber Identity(IMSI), authentication information, and the like. The one or moreservers 50 may include over-the-air (OTA) servers in some embodiments.In some embodiments, logic associated with different functionalities ofthe one or more servers 50 may be combined to reduce a number ofservers, including, for example, being combined in a single machine ormodule.

According to various embodiments, the BWA network 100 is an InternetProtocol (IP) based network. For example, the core network 25 may be anIP based network. Interfaces between network nodes (e.g., the one ormore nodes 45) may be based on IP, including a backhaul connection tothe BSes 40, 42.

FIG. 2 schematically illustrates an example reporting scheme 200 foruplink maximum transmission power P_(CMAX, c) in accordance with someembodiments. At 202, the UE 15 may send a message to report P_(CMAX, c)to a base station 40. The message may include a value that indicates theuplink maximum transmission power for each active component carrier(e.g., P_(CMAX, c)) of a carrier aggregation scheme. The message can besent over any active component carrier between the UE 15 and the basestation 40. For example, the P_(CMAX, c) for a first component carrier(CC1) and a second component carrier (CC2) can be sent over CC1 or CC2.In some embodiments, the message is a Media Access Control (MAC) layermessage. The message may be sent independent (e.g., in isolation) ofother messages sent by the UE 15. In an embodiment, the message is sentindependent of one or more messages to report power headroom in a PowerHeadroom Report (PHR). For 3GPP embodiments, the message may be sent bythe UE 15 over a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH).

The message sent at 202 may include a quantized nominal value ofP_(CMAX, c) for each active component carrier. The quantized nominalvalue may include, for example, one or more bits that indicate theactual maximum uplink transmission power P_(CMAX, c) (e.g., 23 dBm) foreach active component carrier.

According to various embodiments, the message sent at 202 may be a firstmessage sent to report P_(CMAX, c) during establishment of acommunication link, at 201, between the UE 15 and the base station 40.In some embodiments, the communication link is established between theUE 15 and the base station 40 when the UE 15 receives an IP address foruse in communication with the wireless network (e.g., the BWA network100 of FIG. 1). The message at 202 may be sent based on an event ormessage associated with establishment of the communication link betweenthe UE 15 and the wireless network which the base station 40 services.

The UE 15 may determine whether a reporting condition has occurred at250. For example, the UE 15 may calculate or otherwise determine acurrent P_(CMAX, c) on a periodic or event-driven basis and compare thecurrent P_(CMAX, c) with a reported P_(CMAX, c) (e.g., the last reportedP_(CMAX, c) at 202). When a difference between the current P_(CMAX, c)and the reported P_(CMAX, c) is greater than a predetermined threshold,another message is sent to report the current P_(CMAX, c). This sametechnique can be used to send another message at 206 to report anupdated P_(CMAX, c) and can be repeated, for example, until the UE 15 isdisconnected from the wireless network. The base station 40 may scheduleor otherwise allocate resources for uplink transmission by the UE 15based on the messages received at, e.g., 202, 204, and 206 to report theP_(CMAX, c).

In the reporting scheme 200, the P_(CMAX, c) may only be reported when achange to the P_(CMAX, c) has occurred. Such reporting scheme 200 mayprovide reduced bandwidth usage compared to other reporting schemeswhere P_(CMAX, c) is reported even when a threshold change to theP_(CMAX, c) has not occurred.

FIG. 3 schematically illustrates another example reporting scheme 300for uplink maximum transmission power P_(CMAX, c) in accordance withsome embodiments. In the reporting scheme 300, messages sent at 302,304, and 306 include information for a Power Headroom Report (PHR) andthe P_(CMAX, c) for each active component of the carrier aggregationscheme. The information for the PHR may include, for example, a powerheadroom value that indicates a difference between the P_(CMAX, c) andan estimated transmission power for each active component carrier of thecarrier aggregation scheme.

According to various embodiments, the UE 15 may be configured to send aPHR message to the base station 40 during establishment of acommunication link with the wireless network (e.g., the BWA network 100of FIG. 1) at 301. The UE 15 may be configured to send additional PHRmessages at 304 and 306 based on occurrence of a reporting condition.For example, the UE 15 may determine whether a reporting condition(e.g., timer, event, etc.) for PHR has occurred at 350. If the reportingcondition has occurred, then the UE sends the PHR message to the basestation 40 at 304. Sending of the PHR messages (e.g., at 304, 306, andso forth) may be controlled by a PHR control module disposed in the UE15. The messages may be sent periodically or based on the occurrence ofan event, or combinations thereof.

In the reporting scheme 300, the P_(CMAX, c) may be sent with each PHRmessage sent by the UE 15 to the base station 40. According to variousembodiments, the messages sent at 302, 304, and 306 may include aquantized nominal value of P_(CMAX, c) for each active componentcarrier. In some embodiments, the messages sent at 302, 304, and 306 areMAC layer messages.

FIG. 4 schematically illustrates yet another example reporting scheme400 for uplink maximum transmission power P_(CMAX, c) in accordance withsome embodiments. At 402, the UE 15 sends a message to report a basevalue of P_(CMAX, c) to the base station 40. In some embodiments, themessage is sent at 402 during establishment of a communication link, at401, between the UE 15 and the base station 40. The base value mayinclude a quantized nominal value of P_(CMAX, c).

At 403, the UE 15 determines whether a reporting condition for reportingthe base value has occurred. When the UE 15 has determined that thereporting condition for reporting of the base value has occurred, the UE15 sends another message at 408 to report an updated base valueP_(CMAX, c), which may include another quantized nominal value ofP_(CMAX, c). The determining at 403 may be performed until it has beendetermined that the reporting condition for reporting the base value hasoccurred (e.g., ‘yes’ corresponding with the arrow from determining at403 in FIG. 4), whereupon the message is sent at 408. In the depictedexample flow in FIG. 4, the reporting condition for reporting of thebase value is determined to have occurred subsequent to messages sent at404 and 406, however the reporting condition for reporting of the basevalue may be determined to have occurred at different times includingearlier and later times than what is depicted in other embodiments.

At 405, the UE 15 determines whether a reporting condition for PHR hasoccurred. Upon determining that the reporting condition for PHR hasoccurred, the UE 15 sends a message, at 404, to report a differentialvalue of P_(CMAX, c) together with PHR information. The message sent at404 may include a quantized differential value of P_(CMAX, c) for eachactive component carrier. The quantized differential value may include,for example, one or more bits that indicate an updated maximum uplinktransmission power P_(CMAX, c) relative to the reported base value ofP_(CMAX, c) for each active component carrier. For example, if the basevalue of P_(CMAX, c) reported at 402 is 21 dBm, then the differentialvalue can include one or more bits to indicate an updated P_(CMAX, c)relative to the reported base value (e.g., the one or more bits canindicate a change of ±1, ±2, ±3 dBm, or other difference from thereported base value of +21 dBm). According to various embodiments, themessages sent to report a base value of P_(CMAX, c) (e.g., messages sentat 402 or 408) include eight bits to indicate the nominal value ofP_(CMAX, c) and the messages sent to report a differential value ofP_(CMAX, c) (e.g., messages sent at 404 or 406) include four bits toindicate the difference from the reported value. Other numbers of bitscan be used to report the base and differential values in otherembodiments.

The UE 15 may send another message at 406 to report another differentialvalue for P_(CMAX, c) and PHR information upon again determining that areporting condition for PHR has occurred at 405. According to variousembodiments, the UE 15 may continue to report the differential value forP_(CMAX, c) with each PHR message sent to report PHR information (e.g.,each time the UE 15 determines that a reporting condition for PHR hasoccurred).

Although in the depicted example embodiment, the message at 408 is sentsubsequent to sending a message at 404 and 406 to report a differentialvalue of P_(CMAX, c) in other embodiments, the message sent at 408 toupdate the base value P_(CMAX, c) can be sent in cases where othernumbers of messages or even no messages to report a differential valuefor P_(CMAX, c) (e.g., messages sent at 404 and 406) are sent. The flowshown in reporting scheme 400 is merely one example of a possible flowin accordance with embodiments herein.

In reporting scheme 400, some aspects of reporting scheme 300 andreporting scheme 200 may be combined. For example, the messages sent,e.g., at 402 and 408, to report the base value P_(CMAX, c) may comportwith embodiments described for messages sent at 202, 204, and/or 206 inFIG. 2. The messages sent, e.g., at 404 and 406, to report thedifferential value P_(CMAX, c) and PHR information may comport withembodiments described for messages sent at 302, 304, and/or 306 in FIG.3. The determination of whether a reporting condition for reporting basevalue has occurred, at 403, may comport with the determination ofwhether a reporting condition has occurred at 250 of FIG. 2. Thedetermination of whether a reporting condition for PHR has occurred, at405, may comport with the determination of whether a reporting conditionfor PHR has occurred at 350 of FIG. 3. The reporting scheme 400 mayfacilitate reporting of P_(CMAX, c) with each PHR message similar toreporting scheme 300, but using less bandwidth than the reporting scheme300 by using a differential value to report the P_(CMAX, c) instead of anominal value.

The determining by the UE 15 at 403 and 405 may be continuously orperiodically performed while the UE 15 is in a connected state with thebase station 40. Whenever the respective reporting condition hasoccurred for said determining, a respective message to report a base anddifferential value of P_(CMAX, c) may be sent. The techniques describedin connection with reporting schemes 200, 300, and 400 may be combinedin various embodiments.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of a method 500 for reporting uplink maximumtransmission power P_(CMAX, c) in accordance with some embodiments. At502, the method 500 includes establishing a communication link with abase station (e.g., the base station 40 of FIGS. 2 and 3) of an InternetProtocol (IP) based wireless communication network (e.g., the BWAnetwork 100 of FIG. 1). For example, a UE (e.g., UE 15 of FIGS. 2 and 3)may exchange authentication information with and receive an IP addressfrom the IP based wireless communication network for communicationwithin the network. The UE may be in a connected state after receivingthe IP address.

At 504, the method 500 further includes sending a message that includesa value that indicates an uplink maximum transmission power P_(CMAX, c)for each active component of a carrier aggregation scheme. In someembodiments, the message may comport with embodiments described for themessage sent at 202 or at 204/206 in FIG. 2. In other embodiments, themessage may comport with embodiments described for the message sent at302 or at 304/306 in FIG. 3.

At 506, the method 500 further includes determining whether a reportingcondition has occurred. In some embodiments, the determining may comportwith embodiments described in connection with determining whether areporting condition has occurred at 250 of FIG. 2. In other embodiments,the determining may comport with embodiments described in connectionwith determining whether a reporting condition for PHR has occurred at350 of FIG. 3.

At 508, the method 500 further includes sending another message thatincludes another value that indicates an uplink maximum transmissionpower P_(CMAX, c) for each active component of a carrier aggregationscheme. In some embodiments, sending another message at 508 comportswith embodiments described in connection with sending a message at 204or 206 in FIG. 2. In other embodiments, sending another message at 508comports with embodiments described in connection with sending a messageat 304 or 306 in FIG. 3.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of another method 600 for reporting uplinkmaximum transmission power P_(CMAX, c) in accordance with someembodiments. At 602, the method 600 includes establishing acommunication link with a base station of an IP-based wirelesscommunication network. The communication link may be established, forexample, according to embodiments described for establishing acommunication link at 502 in FIG. 5.

At 604, the method 600 further includes sending a message to report abase value of an uplink maximum transmission power P_(CMAX, c) for eachactive component of a carrier aggregation scheme. According to variousembodiments, sending the message at 604 comports with embodimentsdescribed, e.g., in connection with sending the message at 402 or 408 ofFIG. 4.

At 606, the method 600 further includes determining whether a reportingcondition for reporting a base value has occurred. The determining at606 may comport with embodiments described in connection withdetermining at 403 of FIG. 4.

At 608, when it is determined that a reporting condition has occurred at606, the method 600 further includes sending a message to report anotherbase value of P_(CMAX, c) for each active component of a carrieraggregation scheme. Sending a message at 608 may comport withembodiments described in connection with sending a message at 408 ofFIG. 4. The actions at 606 and 608 may be repeated until the UE isdisconnected from the network.

At 610, the method 600 further includes determining whether a reportingcondition for PHR has occurred. The determining at 610 may comport withembodiments described in connection with determining at 405 of FIG. 4.The determining at 606 and 610 may occur simultaneously or in anysuitable order.

At 612, when it is determined that a reporting condition for PHR hasoccurred, the method 600 further includes sending a message to report aPHR value and a differential value of P_(CMAX, c) relative to a reportedbase value for each active component of a carrier aggregation scheme.The PHR value may include, for example, a power headroom value thatindicates a difference between the P_(CMAX, c) and an estimatedtransmission power for each active component carrier of the carrieraggregation scheme. The differential value may indicate an updatedP_(CMAX, c) value relative to a most recently reported base value ofP_(CMAX, c). The actions at 610 and 612 may be repeated until the UE isdisconnected from the network. The actions of methods 500 and 600 may beperformed by the UE.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of a method for scheduling resources for uplinktransmission in accordance with some embodiments. The actions of method700 may be performed, for example, by a base station (e.g., the basestation 40 of FIG. 1) of an IP based wireless communication network(e.g., the BWA network 100 of FIG. 1).

At 702, the method 700 includes establishing a communication link withuser equipment (UE) (e.g., UE 15 of FIG. 1) of an Internet Protocol (IP)based wireless communication network. In establishing the communicationlink, the base station may, for example, exchange authenticationinformation with the UE and send an IP address to the UE for use by theUE in communication with the network.

At 704, the method 700 further includes receiving a message thatincludes a value that indicates an uplink maximum transmission powerP_(CMAX, c) for each active component carrier of a carrier aggregationscheme. In some embodiments, the message received at 704 may correspondwith the message sent at 504 in method 500 of FIG. 5. In otherembodiments, the message received at 704 may correspond with the messagesent at 604, 608, or 612 in method 600 of FIG. 6.

At 706, the method 700 further includes scheduling resources for uplinktransmission by the UE based on the received message. For example, theresources may be scheduled based on the reported uplink maximumtransmission power P_(CMAX, c) for each active component carrier of acarrier aggregation scheme. The scheduled resources may include radioresources such as uplink component carriers for communication with theUE. Actions at 704 and 706 may be repeated until the UE has beendisconnected from the network.

Embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented into a systemusing any suitable hardware and/or software to configure as desired.FIG. 8 schematically illustrates an example system 800 that may be usedto practice various embodiments described herein. FIG. 8 illustrates,for one embodiment, an example system 800 having one or moreprocessor(s) 804, system control module 808 coupled to at least one ofthe processor(s) 804, system memory 812 coupled to system control module808, non-volatile memory (NVM)/storage 816 coupled to system controlmodule 808, and one or more communications interface(s) 820 coupled tosystem control module 808.

In some embodiments, the system 800 may be capable of functioning as theUE 15 as described herein. In other embodiments, the system 800 may becapable of functioning as the one or more servers 50 of FIG. 1 orotherwise provide logic/module that performs functions as described forthe base station herein.

System control module 808 for one embodiment may include any suitableinterface controllers to provide for any suitable interface to at leastone of the processor(s) 804 and/or to any suitable device or componentin communication with system control module 808.

System control module 808 may include memory controller module 810 toprovide an interface to system memory 812. The memory controller module810 may be a hardware module, a software module, and/or a firmwaremodule.

System memory 812 may be used to load and store data and/orinstructions, for example, for system 800. System memory 812 for oneembodiment may include any suitable volatile memory, such as suitableDRAM, for example. In some embodiments, the system memory 812 mayinclude double data rate type four synchronous dynamic random-accessmemory (DDR4 SDRAM).

System control module 808 for one embodiment may include one or moreinput/output (I/O) controller(s) to provide an interface to NVM/storage816 and communications interface(s) 820.

The NVM/storage 816 may be used to store data and/or instructions, forexample. NVM/storage 816 may include any suitable non-volatile memory,such as flash memory, for example, and/or may include any suitablenon-volatile storage device(s), such as one or more hard disk drive(s)(HDD(s)), one or more compact disc (CD) drive(s), and/or one or moredigital versatile disc (DVD) drive(s), for example.

The NVM/storage 816 may include a storage resource physically part of adevice on which the system 800 is installed or it may be accessible by,but not necessarily a part of, the device. For example, the NVM/storage816 may be accessed over a network via the communications interface(s)820.

Communications interface(s) 820 may provide an interface for system 800to communicate over one or more network(s) and/or with any othersuitable device. In some embodiments, the communications interface(s)820 may include a wireless network interface controller (WNIC) 824having one or more antennae 828 to establish and maintain a wirelesscommunication link with one or more components of a wireless network.The system 800 may wirelessly communicate with the one or morecomponents of the wireless network in accordance with any of one or morewireless network standards and/or protocols.

For one embodiment, at least one of the processor(s) 804 may be packagedtogether with logic for one or more controller(s) of system controlmodule 808, e.g., memory controller module 810. For one embodiment, atleast one of the processor(s) 804 may be packaged together with logicfor one or more controllers of system control module 808 to form aSystem in Package (SiP). For one embodiment, at least one of theprocessor(s) 804 may be integrated on the same die with logic for one ormore controller(s) of system control module 808. For one embodiment, atleast one of the processor(s) 804 may be integrated on the same die withlogic for one or more controller(s) of system control module 808 to forma System on Chip (SoC).

In various embodiments, the system 800 may be, but is not limited to, aserver, a workstation, a desktop computing device, or a mobile computingdevice (e.g., a laptop computing device, a handheld computing device, atablet, a netbook, etc.). In various embodiments, the system 800 mayhave more or less components, and/or different architectures.

Although certain embodiments have been illustrated and described hereinfor purposes of description, a wide variety of alternate and/orequivalent embodiments or implementations calculated to achieve the samepurposes may be substituted for the embodiments shown and describedwithout departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Thisapplication is intended to cover any adaptations or variations of theembodiments discussed herein. Therefore, it is manifestly intended thatembodiments described herein be limited only by the claims and theequivalents thereof.

1. A method comprising: establishing, by a user equipment (UE), acommunication link with an enhanced node B (eNB) of an Internet Protocol(IP)-based wireless communication network; and sending, by the UE to theeNB, a message that includes information for a Power Headroom Report(PHR) and a value that indicates an uplink maximum transmission powerfor individual active component carriers of a carrier aggregationscheme, wherein the value that indicates the uplink maximum transmissionpower for individual active component carriers of the carrieraggregation scheme is a quantized nominal value that is sent by the UEto the eNB for the eNB to schedule resources for uplink transmission bythe UE.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein sending the message isperformed during establishment of the communication link.
 3. The methodof claim 2, further comprising: sending, by the UE to the eNB, anothermessage that includes updated information for a Power Headroom Report(PHR) and another value that indicates an updated uplink maximumtransmission power for individual active component carriers of thecarrier aggregation scheme.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein sendingthe other message is performed periodically or based on occurrence of anevent.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the information for the PHRcomprises a power headroom value that indicates a difference between theuplink maximum transmission power and an estimated transmission powerfor individual active component carriers of the carrier aggregationscheme.
 6. (canceled)
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the message is asecond message that is sent subsequent to a first message, the methodfurther comprising: sending, by the UE to the eNB, the first message toreport a base value of the uplink maximum transmission power forindividual active component carriers of the carrier aggregation scheme,wherein the first message comprises one or more bits to indicate thebase value, the base value being a nominal value of the uplink maximumtransmission power, and wherein the second message comprises one or morebits to differentially indicate an updated value of the uplink maximumtransmission power relative to the base value.
 8. The method of claim 7,wherein: sending the first message is performed during establishment ofthe communication link; and wherein the first message comprises eightbits to indicate the base value and is sent independent of messages sentfor the PHR, and the second message comprises four bits todifferentially indicate the updated value relative to the base value. 9.The method of claim 7, further comprising: subsequent to sending thefirst message, sending, by the UE to the eNB, a third message to reportanother base value of the uplink maximum transmission power forindividual active component carriers of the carrier aggregation scheme,wherein the other base value is a nominal value of the uplink maximumtransmission power, and wherein the third message is sent based upon adifference between a measured uplink maximum transmission power and thereported base value being greater than a predetermined threshold. 10.The method of claim 9, wherein the first message, the second message,and the third message each comprise a Media Access Control (MAC) layermessage.
 11. A user equipment (UE) comprising: an antenna; a processorconfigured to communicate with an enhanced node B (eNB) of an InternetProtocol (IP)-based wireless communication network via the antenna; anda storage medium coupled to the processor, the storage medium havinginstructions stored thereon, that if executed by the processor, resultin the UE: sending to the eNB a message to report a base value of anuplink transmission power for individual active component carriers of acarrier aggregation scheme; and subsequent to sending the message,sending another message that includes information for a Power HeadroomReport (PHR) and a value that differentially indicates an uplinktransmission power for individual active component carriers of a carrieraggregation scheme relative to the base value, wherein the base value ofthe uplink transmission power is reported to the eNB station for the eNBstation to schedule resources for uplink transmission by the apparatus.12. The UE of claim 11, wherein the instructions, if executed by theprocessor, further result in the UE: establishing a communication linkwith the eNB, wherein sending the message is performed duringestablishment of the communication link.
 13. The UE of claim 11, whereinthe information for the PHR comprises a power headroom value thatindicates a difference between the uplink transmission power and anestimated transmission power for the individual active componentcarriers of the carrier aggregation scheme.
 14. The UE of claim 11,wherein sending the other message is performed periodically or based onoccurrence of an event.
 15. (canceled)
 16. The UE of claim 11, whereinthe message comprises one or more bits to indicate the base value, thebase value being a quantized nominal value of the uplink transmissionpower, and wherein the other message comprises one or more bits todifferentially indicate an updated value of the uplink transmissionpower relative to the base value.
 17. The UE of claim 16, wherein: themessage comprises eight bits to indicate the base value and is sentindependent of messages sent for the PHR; and the another messagecomprises four bits to differentially indicate the updated valuerelative to the base value.
 18. The UE of claim 16, wherein the messageis a first message and the other message is a second message, andwherein the instructions, if executed, further result in the UE:subsequent to sending the first message, sending to the eNB, a thirdmessage to report another base value of the uplink transmission powerfor individual active component carriers of the carrier aggregationscheme, wherein the another base value is a quantized nominal value ofthe uplink transmission power, and wherein the third message is sentbased upon a difference between a measured uplink transmission power andthe reported base value being greater than a predetermined threshold.19. The UE of claim 18, wherein the first message, the second message,and the third message each comprise a Media Access Control (MAC) layermessage.
 20. The UE of claim 11, wherein the uplink transmission poweris a maximum transmission power.
 21. A method comprising: establishing,by an enhanced node B (eNB) of an Internet Protocol (IP)-based wirelesscommunication network, a communication link with a user equipment (UE);receiving, by the eNB from the UE, a message that includes a value thatindicates an uplink maximum transmission power for individual activecomponent carriers of a carrier aggregation scheme; and scheduling, bythe eNB, resources for uplink transmission by the UE based on thereceived message, wherein receiving the message is performed duringestablishment of the communication link.
 22. (canceled)
 23. The methodof claim 21, further comprising: receiving, by the eNB from the UE,another message that includes another value that indicates an updateduplink maximum transmission power for individual active componentcarriers of a carrier aggregation scheme.
 24. The method of claim 23,wherein the another message is sent by the UE to the eNB based upon adifference between the another value and the value being greater than apre-determined threshold.
 25. The method of claim 24, wherein: themessage and the another message each comprise a Media Access Control(MAC) layer message that is received independent of Power HeadroomReporting (PHR) received by the eNB; and the value and the another valueeach comprise a quantized nominal value of the uplink maximumtransmission power.
 26. An enhanced node B (eNB) comprising: a processorconfigured to communicate with a user equipment (UE) via an InternetProtocol (IP)-based wireless communication network; and a storage mediumcoupled to the processor, the storage medium having instructions storedthereon, that if executed by the processor, result in the eNB:establishing a communication link with the UE; receiving, from the UE, amessage that includes a value that indicates an uplink transmissionpower for individual active component carriers of a carrier aggregationscheme, wherein the message is received independent of Power HeadroomReporting (PHR) received by the eNB, wherein receiving the message isperformed during establishment of the communication link; andscheduling, by the eNB, resources for uplink transmission by the UEbased on the received message.
 27. (canceled)
 28. The eNB of claim 26,wherein the instructions, if executed, further result in the eNB:receiving, from the UE, another message that includes another value thatindicates an updated uplink transmission power for individual activecomponent carriers of a carrier aggregation scheme.
 29. The eNB of claim28, wherein the another message is sent by the UE to the eNB based upona difference between the updated uplink transmission power of the UE andthe uplink transmission power received by the eNB in the message beinggreater than a pre-determined threshold.
 30. The eNB of claim 29,wherein: the message and the another message each comprise a MediaAccess Control (MAC) layer message; the other message is receivedindependent of Power Headroom Reporting (PHR) received by the eNB; thevalue and the other value each comprise a quantized nominal value of theuplink transmission power; and the uplink transmission power is amaximum transmission power.
 31. An apparatus to be employed in a userequipment (UE), the apparatus comprising: a communication module tofacilitate communication using carrier aggregation over a plurality ofactive component carriers in a wireless communication network; and apower headroom control module to send to an enhanced node B (eNB) of thewireless communication network a message including information aboutpower headroom and information that indicates an uplink maximumtransmission power of individual active component carriers of theplurality of active component carriers, wherein the information aboutthe power headroom indicates a difference between the uplink maximumtransmission power and an estimated transmission power of the individualactive component carriers.
 32. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein thepower headroom control module is to send to the eNB another message thatincludes updated information about power headroom and information thatindicates an updated uplink maximum transmission power of the individualactive component carriers.
 33. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein thepower headroom control module is to send the other message based on atimer.
 34. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the power headroom controlmodule and the communication module are integrated in a System on Chip(SoC).
 35. A UE comprising: the apparatus of claim 31; and an antennacoupled with the communication module, the antenna for use incommunication with the eNB, wherein the UE is a mobile phone.